Has your Health & Welfare Fund tried everything to engage members in managing their health and making good healthcare decisions?

Are you frustrated that the programs are not working — and neither are the members who are disabled by their preventable or manageable health conditions?

Guardian Nurses has created a unique program resulting in an unprecedented level of engagement from members who were struggling with a healthcare issue.

Big win for Funds

Five years after starting a Mobile Care Coordinator (MCC)® Program for members of the Teamsters Local 830 Health & Welfare Fund, Administrator Samuel J. Kenish says the savings amount to more than $10.7 million:

“If you compare our rates at 9/1/13 and 9/1/18, the increase over 5 years is 7.42%. The average annual increase is 8.5% across IBC’s self-funded book of business. If our rate had increased 8.5% annually, our current rate would be $1,476 per month, which is $421 per month more than we project for the coming fiscal year. Using an expected average population of 2,126, this would have meant additional costs of $10,752,288.”

For Local 830, the program’s value is only partially financial. Kenish says the most gratifying return on investment in MCC® has been seeing members make better healthcare decisions and receive timely, high-quality, cost-effective care:

“Our members’ response has been phenomenal. More than 50% of our population has been helped by our MCC RNs. The Mobile Care Coordinator program is a remarkable success!!!”

In fact, member engagement so greatly exceeded expectations that Local 830 doubled its MCC program to two RNs to handle the increased volume.

Guardian Nurses’ MCC Program is the first and only of its kind. It is being offered to non-union employers with self-funded health plans, as well as union health plans. Currently, MCC programs are operating at EIGHT unions in the Philadelphia area and one in New York (Long Island).

How the MCC® program works

Guardian Nurses assigns an experienced RN to be your MCC. The new vehicle that will make your care coordinator mobile is smartly wrapped and co-branded with your organization’s name and logo. Your nurse is on the road five days a week, visiting patients at home and in the hospital, accompanying them to physicians’ visits and making sure their discharge home is safe. She reviews data daily so that she can proactively reach out to patients and offer immediate assistance at their time of need.

Why other approaches fail

You likely have invested in multiple efforts to manage insurance costs by encouraging your members or employees to take better care of themselves and make better healthcare decisions. Such efforts often fail to engage those who need help most. The reasons are clear. People don’t trust the healthcare system; in fact, most find it confusing and intimidating. And no one is reaching out to them at their time of need to offer guidance and support in navigating the healthcare system successfully.

Why the MCC® approach works

The onset or recurrence of a medical problem makes patients and their loved ones feel fearful and vulnerable. Suddenly they are open to accepting help from a nurse in ways they may not have been when they felt fine. If they have seen or heard how the MCC® is helping others, a foundation of trust already has been laid. When the nurse personally calls or visits the patient, she builds more trust with her knowledge and compassion. She is there to help when help is welcome. Timing is everything.

Mobility improves outcomes

For your members or employees to get the care they need from the healthcare system, they must make a daunting number of informed decisions. Yet most consumers are woefully ill-equipped for this challenge. So it’s no wonder that health outcomes improve when patients have guidance from an RN at the times and places where important decisions must be made — in the office of a physician or specialist, in the hospital or rehab center. The MCC® is communicating with or accompanying patients at these critical times.

Backed by Guardian Nurses

Your Mobile Care Coordinator® is not just one RN. It is a program backed by the reputation, experience and resources of Guardian Nurses Healthcare Advocates. That RN, along with the full team of RNs backing her up, not only save you money, they save you countless headaches, hassles and bureaucratic nightmares by taking care of provider and insurance issues while they coordinate care for your members or employees and their families.

Our unique population health program has had a tremendous impact in its first 5 years. Patient outcomes are significantly improved and claims are significantly reduced for the self-insured unions and companies we serve.

Our Mobile Care Coordinator® Program

Guardian Nurses pioneered this unique program, which is driving superior patient care while holding down costs for employers and union health and welfare funds.